


Night at the Zoo

by tastelesscreature



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Feralstuck, Gen, Petstuck, Stillbirth, implied oviposition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-08
Packaged: 2018-04-13 14:43:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4525998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tastelesscreature/pseuds/tastelesscreature
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You are John Egbert and you work at the zoo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Night at the Zoo

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lizardlicks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizardlicks/gifts).



> This was a birthday present for Lizardlicks who wanted Amporas. I'm posting it here as well now that I have an AO3 account.

You are John Egbert and you work at the zoo.

It’s a menagerie for exotic trolls of higher blood castes. You tend to them as the zoo keeper. From the high perched teals with their leathery wings to the deep sea violets who live in the Grotto, an artificial sea cavern designed to emulate an environment for seatrolls.

This zoo also served as a sanctuary for endangered castes such as cherry bloods. Seadwellers weren’t doing too well either. Hunted for their meat and horns, violets were going the way of the lime blood. Tyrian’s hair and blood fetched a high price in the black market. Full grown tyrians were too dangerous to be kept in captivity. So from time to time, the zoo would care for a young one until it’s adult pupation where it would be released into the wild.

For the violets, they had a breeding program. During their heat cycles, a highblood would be placed in the grotto to stud. Though they were a bit intimidated by the grotto’s main attraction, Dualscar. A violet blood who had been smuggled into the country in his youth to partake in illegal troll fights. When the warehouse where these matches were taking place was discovered and shut down, his status as an endangered caste saved him from being put down and was brought here. Named for the scars he earned from his previous occupation, you tried giving him a better one but he only responds to Dualscar.

No troll in the zoo wanted to mate with him and he wouldn’t let them. Well most of them. It wasn’t until a few weeks after mating season you learned that the last tyrian you looked after had some fun before returning to the ocean. So you guess you didn’t look after her enough.

You made sure to keep a better eye on Dualscar then you did on his fuchsia ‘friend’. His health was monitored, he received more food, he was given the proper nesting supplies for the new additions to the grotto. Everything went smoothly. Then the eggs arrived…

Apparently the damage he received during his years as a fighter were more eternal then you realized. You had to remove the still-laid but it was heart breaking seeing this normally proud and aloof troll warming eggs that would never hatch. He seemed to know this as well but that didn’t stop him from chasing you off when you got too close. 

It took some time but you were able to dispose of them. The seatroll never got over the eggs. He had become depressed. He wouldn’t eat and his health was declining. You tried filling the void with wobbling effigies that looked like grubs designed for trolls who lost their offspring but you guess they only work for their domestic counterparts because he saw through the illusion immediately and tore them up out of rage. At least they make good stress relief toys.

Other trolls needed tending to. You looked after almost all the trolls except for the jade bloods but that’s because they were diurnal and you worked the night shift. You were finishing your rounds with the blue bloods when you heard a loud crash of metal hitting ground. You investigate to discover an overturned trash can with a swishing tail sticking out of the entrance. It draws in as the creature attached to it turns around to exit. A horned head pokes out of the garbage can with a shredded hamburger wrapper between it’s fangs.

It was a troll. A domestic cerulean, not the feral kind you were used to. Black lips indicated it was female. She was young, her irises were still gray. And the fact she had to knock down trash cans for her meals would suggest she was a stray.

You only meant to shoo her off back to the streets where she came from to which she reacted by… running in the opposite direction towards the zoo. You give chase not wanting to be responsible for any injuries she sustained trying to interact with her more wild cousins. She already had the advantage of having more then two legs to carry her but also skilled in outrunning humans, zigzagging and knocking down objects behind her to slow you down. This goes on for awhile, you only manage to catch up with her once when she gallops through the teal reserve and gets in a scuffle with a wriggler no older then her, but shes reminded of her bipedal pursuer as you close in and she darts off again towards the grotto.

She stops in her tracks, halted by the pool that made up the violet reserve and you corner her. You step slowly to avoid stressing her but she’s already crouched and growling ready to attack. One minute it’s just the two of you then Dualscar decided to take advantage of the cerulean’s proximity to the water. Now her neck’s in his jaws. Not her whole throat like a predator subduing their prey, only the scruff like a mother cat carrying her young. You recover from almost pissing yourself after the violet blood did an impression of the "Jaws" shark. He had been fasting and older trolls like him weren’t above eating younger ones like her if they were hungry enough. Indigos were famous for that. “Come on Dualscar, put her down.” You say in your calmest voice. He hears your command but chooses to ignore it by returning to the pool, swimming towards the small cave where he sleeps with the wriggler hanging from his mouth. He keeps his head above water so as not to drown his captive who’s forelegs were kicking the pool’s surface in a vain attempt to free herself.

Seadwellers preferred their food alive.

You take off your jacket, kick off your shoes and jump in as he puts distance between you. You paddle, focusing on the lightning shaped horns that were shrinking as he drew closer to his home before disappearing entirely.

Once inside. you swim to a nearby platform, climbing onto it. Wet clothes weigh you down and make you shiver. You focus on two moving figures in the back of the small cavern. Your pupils expand as your eyes adjust to the darkness, taking in more details. He’s holding her down. She’s struggling. He growls in irritation. She yelps in pain. His mouth comes down again as he… bathes her?

He pins her with his limber forearms as he continues running his tongue through her fur, removing dirt and other grime until her coat’s restored to it’s original cobalt sheen. Finally free from the tongue torture, she tries to sprint off again only to be caught by his grasp once more. He holds her in place with one claw while reaching for what you recognize as the slab of meat you tossed to him for breakfast. He raises it to mouth before sinking his teeth into it, ripping off a large chunk and plopped it in front of the wriggler still growling underneath his palm. He let’s go of her and for the first time she doesn’t move, transfixed on the food she didn’t have to hunt or steal herself. She sniffs it making sure it’s safe to eat before tearing into it. He watches the young troll consume and turns to feast on the first piece. Dualscar’s finally eating and your probably smiling like an idiot because of that.

Finished with their meal, the two trolls settle in the old nest the violet blood made. He curled around the yawning cerulean who was either too tired from a full stomach to put up a fight or accepted the seatroll as her new parent. You would of taken a picture if you hadn’t left your phone in your jacket so as not to get wet. Maybe you’ll get another chance tomorrow.

You are John Egbert and you love your job.


End file.
